Four Indian peacekeepers,who sacrificed their lives while serving in UN peacekeeping operations were awarded posthumously with a prestigious UN medal on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.

The fallen Indian peacekeepers are among the other 124 military, police and civilian personnel who have been awarded posthumously for their sacrifice in the line of duty. The  Indian peacekeepers, who honored with the Dag Hammarskjold Medal are Rifleman Manish Malik, Head Constable Shubhkaran Yadav, Naik Rakesh Kumar and Havildar Amal Deka.

Yadav and Malik were serving in the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). They gave the supreme sacrifice in April 2015.

Deka was serving in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and died in June last year, while Kumar, serving in the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) died in January 2015.

"Today we join together in this solemn ceremony to honour the memory of the 129 men and woman who lost their lives last year while serving under the United Nations flag. These brave personnel came from 50 countries," said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the medal ceremony.

"The number of people who serve in our operations  more than 124,000 demonstrates how much the international community continues to depend on our Blue Helmets," the UN chief said.

At present, there are 16 peacekeeping operations are being operated by the United Nations.

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Nandini